"Haunted by the same spirits which chilled Dickensian literaturePhilip Witcomb's design is breathtakingly beautiful; a highlight not just of the season but of the year. It captures the decaying grandeur of the British Empire, all dusty grey foot servants and enamelled mirrors. Part Universal horror film and part Victorian Gothic, Witcomb has created something both cinematic and nightmarish".  WhatsOnStage ★★★★ 

The Times ★★★★ The Guardian ★★★★  The Scotsman ★★★★ 

The Herald ★★★★ The List ★★★★

Beauty and the Beast directed by Guy Hollands for The Citizens Theatre, Glasgow. 

NOMINATED FOR 'BEST PRODUCTION FOR CHILDREN' - CRITICS AWARDS FOR THEATRE IN SCOTLAND.

 

 

Philip Witcomb is a British set and costume designer based in New York. After studying Theatre Design at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design and The Slade School of Fine Art Philip started his design career at the acclaimed Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. His long connection to this dynamic building, steeped in a tradition of ground-breaking design has had a truly profound impact on both Philip's career and design sensibility. 

His designs for Elijah Moshinsky's seminal and celebrated London production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of The Screw at Wiltons Music Hall were described in The Independent as "Designs that dwell well on one brilliant coup, delivering events to your eyeball" and The Guardian commented that "This is without question, the definitive Turn of the Screw for our times". Philip's lavish designs for Cinderella at Dundee Repertory Theatre were hailed in The Scotsman as "Boasting one of the most staggeringly beautiful pieces of design ever seen on the Scottish stage" and earned him nominations for 'Best Design' and 'Best Production for Children' at the Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (C.A.T.S Awards).

Philip's other awards include nominations for 'Best Designer' for Love in a Maze at The Watermill Theatre (T.M.A Theatre Awards), 'Best Production for Children' for Beauty and the Beast (C.AT.S Awards); 'Best Production' for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Dundee Rep (C.A.T.S Awards) and 'Best off-West End Production' for The White Devil at The Menier Chocolate Factory, London (WhatsOnStage Theatregoers' Choice Awards).

Now with sixteen years experience Philip has designed productions that span from intimate studio shows to main house proscenium stages and from commercial tours to large-scale open air productions. Philip was also one of twelve finalists selected for The Linbury Prize, the United Kingdom's most prestigious award for stage design, culminating in an exhibition of his work at the Royal National Theatre in London.

 

 

"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened." Albert Camus